Gameplay of Nintendo World Cup. The player-controlled U.S.A. team competes against Japan, led by Kunio.

At its core, the game follows the rules of soccer, but with noticeable differences. Each team has only six players (a goalkeeper, two defenders, a midfielder and two forwards). You control only one of them, but you can give commands (Pass/Shoot) to the others. Offsides are non-existent and fouls are not punished. Players can be knocked out by repeatedly sliding, tackling or shooting them, afterwards they will stay down for the rest of the half. Players can also use up to five "super shots" per half; these powerful, odd-looking shots are used whenever a player does a bicycle kick or a diving header,[1] or when he shoots after walking a certain number of steps.[2] The "super shots" differ from team to team. The playing fields also differ in respect to material, e.g. ice, which heavily impacts movement of players and the ball.

Tournament mode, in which one or two players take control of one of the 13 available teams, in order to defeat their CPU-controlled opponents.

VS Match mode, which enables players to confront each other on sand, ice or dirt playing fields.[4] On the NES version, up to four players can compete using the NES Four Score[5] or the NES Satellite. For the Game Boy a link cable or Four Player Adapter would be used.

Graphically, the NES version game looks similar to the Famicom version and other games in the Kunio-kun series, particularly Downtown Nekketsu Story/River City Ransom, with its short-legged, big-headed characters with varied faces; in fact, some sprites, such as Kunio and the other members of the Japanese team, were reused from that game.

The Soviet Union is denominated as Russia in the NES port of the game, but as U.S.S.R. in the Game Boy port

West Germany is denominated as W. Germany in the NES port, but as Germany in the Game Boy port

The Netherlands appears in both versions under the name Holland. The term Holland is frequently used as a pars pro toto to refer to the whole of the Netherlands, but this usage is disliked by part of the Dutch population, especially in the other parts of the Netherlands.[6]

The NES version of Nekketsu High School Dodge Ball Club: Soccer Edition, Nintendo World Cup, differs from its counterpart, in which instead of a soccer tournament set in Japan between thirteen high schools, the game centers around a World Cup. In the main Tournament Mode, the player takes control of the main team of Nekketsu High School team and competes against the twelve other teams. The Tournament Mode's opening intro and story sequences are removed in the NES version. In the Famicom version's "Vs. Match Mode", the player can only choose between the Nekketsu team and four other teams. Since the main Tournament Mode in the Famicom version only featured a single team, the NES localization allows the player to choose between the thirteen nationalities represented in the game by changing the palette of the player's team and their super shots. However, unlike the Famicom version, the NES version supports up to four players instead of two.

A port to the Game Boy was released as Nekketsu High School Soccer Club: World Cup(熱血高校サッカー部 ワールドカップ編,Nekketsu Kōkō Sakkā Bu: Wārudo Kappu Hen?, lit. "Hot Blooded High School Soccer Club: World Cup Edition") in Japan and was based on Nintendo World Cup. It was released in North America and Europe under the same name.

The game was ported to PC Engine's Super CD-ROM² and retitled Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: CD Soccer(熱血高校ドッジボール部 ＣＤサッカー編,Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu: Shī Dī Sakkā Hen?, lit. "Hot Blooded High School Dodge Ball Club: CD Soccer Edition") and was released in December 20, 1991, was published by Naxat Soft.

This version includes five national teams (France, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany) in Tournament mode which is after beating the final match.

A similar version for the PC EngineHuCard was released on April 13, 1992 under the title Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: PC Soccer(熱血高校ドッジボール部 ＰＣサッカー編,Nekketsu Kōkō Dojjibōru Bu: Pī Shī Sakkā-hen?, lit. "Hot Blooded High School Dodge Ball Club: PC Soccer Edition"). Only differences between the two versions, the CD version has an arranged soundtrack and add voice acting for opening intro and cut scene, while the HuCard version has no voice acting, etc.

A Mega Drive version of the game, titled Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: MD Soccer(熱血高校ドッジボール部 ＭＤサッカー編,Nekketsu Kōkō Dojjibōru Bu: Mega Doraibu Sakkā-hen?, lit. "Hot Blooded High School Dodge Ball Club: MD Soccer Edition") was released by Palsoft in Japan on August 7, 1992. Unlike the Famicom/NES version and other Platforms, this version has all the teams playable in VS. Mode.

The Famicom version of the game was ported to Game Boy Advance as the part of Kunio-kun Nekketsu Collection 2 (along with Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundōkai), was released on October 27, 2005 in Japan.

The original Famicom version of Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: Soccer Edition was re-released for Virtual Console in Japan on October 7, 2008 for the Wii and on March 19, 2014 for the Wii U. Nintendo World Cup, however, there is no plans for North America or PAL regions released. The PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version of the game was also re-released in Japan for the Wii on November 4, 2008.